In a historic move towards sustainable delivery operations, the United States Postal Service (USPS) and White House officials have inaugurated the first set of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at the South Atlanta Sorting and Delivery Center (S&DC). This initiative marks a pivotal step in the USPS’s $40 billion investment strategy to overhaul its processing, transportation, and delivery networks, making it the epicenter of the nation’s largest EV fleet.

“The improvements we need to achieve in sustainability are an integral outgrowth of the broader modernization efforts we have undertaken through our 10-year Delivering for America plan,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. “As we transform our operating processes and invest in new automation, new technologies, and upgraded facilities and vehicles, we will generate significant efficiencies that reduce our costs, slash our carbon footprint and minimize waste. We are grateful for the support of Congress and the Biden Administration through Inflation Reduction Act funding, which helped enable the electrification in evidence here today.”

“In every neighborhood in America, people know their postal carrier and recognize the USPS vehicle driving down their street,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation. “The work USPS is doing to electrify those vehicles is making EVs commonplace on every road and street in our country, while reducing air pollution and increasing comfort and safety for the dedicated public servants who deliver our mail.”

“Today is a victory for the U.S. Postal Service, America’s electric vehicle industry, workers, and the environment,” said White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory. “USPS is leading by example by building the world’s largest electric delivery vehicle fleet and delivering on President Biden’s Investing in America agenda resulting in cleaner air, better health and good-paying jobs in communities across the country.”

The event also showcased battery-powered, domestically manufactured commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) delivery vehicles, designed to meet modern operational requirements with features like air conditioning and advanced safety technology. The deployment of these electric delivery trucks will commence in Georgia and expand nationwide.

As part of the broader plan, the USPS expects to convert approximately 400 selected sites into S&DCs nationwide, acting as local hubs for EV deployment. This move enhances mail and package delivery efficiency over a greater geographic area.

The charging stations, manufactured by Siemens, are a critical component of the infrastructure, capable of efficiently charging Postal Service EVs overnight. The USPS plans to install 14,000 EV chargers from suppliers like Siemens, Rexel/ChargePoint, and Blink.

In a continued commitment to electrification, USPS aims to procure 21,000 COTS EVs, including 9,250 from Ford, and add at least 45,000 battery-electric Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs) by 2028. This ambitious plan makes USPS one of the largest contributors to vehicle electrification in the nation.

Updating and modernizing the fleet will not only contribute to sustainability but also enable delivery vehicles to handle larger volumes of mail and packages. For example, the Ford E-Transits exhibited at the event have nearly three times the cargo capacity of the Postal Service’s current delivery vehicles, reducing inefficiencies in transportation and improving delivery operations.

The USPS’s 10-year Delivering for America plan sets the stage for continuous improvements in sustainability. From new facilities to enhanced transportation utilization and delivery route refinements, each step forward in USPS operations will contribute to reducing the organization’s carbon footprint. The electrification and modernization efforts underscore USPS’s commitment to a cleaner, more efficient future for mail and package delivery.